US Defends Bush Record on Climate Change
The White House says climate change and global warming has been a top-priority issue throughout President Bush's time in office.
In an "open letter" (released Wednesday), White House officials detail the Bush administration's work on climate-change research, and recount the president's statements on the issue since June 2001.
The statement appears to be an attempt to correct what U.S. officials say are recent erroneous media reports contening that Mr. Bush has only recently turned his attention to climate change.
President Bush committed almost three billion dollars a year from 2003 through 2006 for climate-change research and related programs. The open letter says this spending is higher than any other country's efforts on such issues.
The letter also cites a report (by the International Energy Agency saying) that U.S. carbon-dioxide emissions rose one-point-seven percent from 2000 to 2004, compared to a five-percent increase in the European Union.
白宫表示，布什总统在任期间，一向高度重视气候变化和全球变暖的问题。
在星期三公布的一份“公开信”中，白宫官员详细说明了布什行政当局在气候变化方面所作的研究和布什总统2001年以来在这个问题上的说法。
这份公开信似乎是希望纠正某些政府官员所说的、最近媒体在这个问题上的错误报导。媒体报导说，布什总统只是在最近才把注意力转到气候变化的问题上来。
这封公开信指出，在2003年到2006年期间，布什总统批准在气候变化和有关项目的研究方面所投入的资金，每年差不多有30亿美元，这比任何其他国家在这个问题上的投资都要多。
公开信还引用国际能源机构的报告说，2000到2004年期间，美国排放的二氧化碳总量上升了1.7%；相比之下，欧盟各国则上涨了5%。
